London: George Bishop, Ralph Newberie and Robert Barker, 1598-1600.
3 volumes bound as 2.
beh/BH3
London: George Bishop, Ralph Newberie and Robert Barker, 1598-1600.
Three volumes bound in two. Folio. Second edition, first issue.
Collation:
Volume 1: * - **, in sixes; A - Ddd, in sixes; Eee - Eee3; a - c, in twos; d, one leaf.
Volume 2: *, eight leaves; A - Cc, in sixes; Aaa - Rrr, in sixes.
Volume 3: (A), eight leaves; A - I, in sixes; K, eight leaves; L - Cccc, in sixes.
Beautifully bound by Edmund Worrall in uniform twentieth Century full crimson morocco. Boards panelled in gilt, with elaborate gilt-tooled decoration. Dentelles and inner dentelles gilt. Spines with five raised bands and gilt-decorated compartments. Marbled endpapers. Top and bottom edges gilt. Engraved vignettes to the title page, and engraved initials throughout.
This copy from Hagley Hall, with a bookplate to the front paste down of the first volume and ink stamps to the title pages of Volumes 1 and 3. Both volumes with scorched fore-edges, this set having survived a fire — likely the devastating fire at Hagley Hall in 1925. The upper corners have been rounded off and the side-notes are shaved in places; some of the side-notes and paginations are cropped in Volume 3. Despite this evident fire damage, there is no smoke odor. There is a repaired closed tear to title page, affecting the text, and a repaired 2.5-inch open tear to the lower corner of Ccc6, affecting the text. Dampstained throughout, more heavily towards the beginning of Volume 1. Occasional spotting to the lower margin in Volumes 2 and 3. Light wear to boards at the corners, and some of the gilt is worn from the dentelles along the boards' tail edges.
The map is lacking, as usual. This copy has the first issue title page, dated 1598 and mentioning the voyage to Cadiz. The passage on Cadiz, however, is from a later printing, as evidenced by the collation and as per Lowndes.
An essential item for any serious collector of travel literature. Hakluyt's importance in the history of English exploration and navigation cannot be overstated.
Sabin 29595-29598; Wing 12626; Lowndes (III) pp.971-2; Kent 14.
